Shadows of the Past
by CaledoniaDraconia
Summary: Allison James knows she can't live without Harry Osborn. She is given a opportunity to fix the past, but will it cost her life? Timetravel fic. Possible HarryOCNorman love triangle in the later chapters. Please RR, no flames!
1. Fire and Ice

A/N: I wrote this after seeing SM3. It is based in the Movieverse, obviously. Most of this will take place during SM1 but there are a few chapters that take place post-SM3. Most questions will be answered by the end, but if anyone gets too confused, e-mail me your questions. I DO NOT OWN MARVEL COMICS, SONY, COLUMBIA PICTURES OR ANY OTHER PERSONS, THEMES, OR BRAND NAMES THAT MAY BE MENTIONED IN THE CONFINES OF THIS FANFIC!

I.

Fire and Ice

Harry Norman Osborn

1983-2007

Allison James stared at the writing on the stone. She couldn't believe something like this had happened. She had known Harry most of her life. He had been her classmate, her boss, and finally, her friend, but now he was gone.

AJ heard a rustle behind her. She reluctantly turned from Harry's grave to see Mary Jane Watson coming up the path behind her. AJ ducked behind a nearby tree, hidden from the approaching Mary Jane, and watched as she left a bouquet of pink daisies on Harry's grave. "I love you, Harry," she whispered.

AJ's hands clenched into fists. She and Mary Jane were polar opposites, like fire and ice. She had always disliked Mary Jane, but she despised her now. Every day for years, she'd had to listen to MJ this and MJ that, never AJ. Her great strides at Oscorp had taken a back seat to Mary Jane's shallow pursuits onstage. She had stolen Harry's affections from her for far too long, and now, although AJ was still now quite sure how, Mary Jane Watson was responsible for his death.

Mary Jane was gone now. AJ stood between the graves of Harry and his father. Tears flooded her eyes as she turned to the grave of Norman Osborn, her original boss. He had given her a chance when so many others would not. She placed a single white rose on his grave and turned back to Harry, weeping bitterly.

Harry...he had been so much more to AJ than he had ever known - or ever would know. AJ gently stroked the red rose in her hand before dropping it on the grave. _This never should have happened_ she thought angrily.


	2. Rab Rudolph

II.

Rab Rudolph

Three days after the funeral, AJ returned to work. Oscorp was in shambles. Their stock plummeted, and shares changed hands faster than anyone could keep up with. Without their boss, the employees bumbled about with no sense of direction. AJ pretended everything was normal.

AJ sat at her desk, typing furiously when a strange man approached her. She pretended not to notice and kept her eyes locked on the computer screen. The visitor cleared his throat loudly and began to drum his fingers on her desk. AJ groaned and turned around.

It was obvious that this man was not an Oscorp employee. He had no lab coat or ID tag, and he was now leaning on her desk, drumming with both hands in a devil-ma-care manner. "I'm afraid no one gets past me without an appointment or proper ID," said AJ.

The man straightened and shook a lock of flat black hair out of his face, revealing a pair of piercing blue-green eyes. He gave her a sly smile as he reached into his shirt pocket. "Very well, then," he said, flicking a card across the desk at AJ.

AJ caught the card just as it skidded off the desk. It bore a picture of a pointy-faced young man with uneven black hair falling in his rather large eyes. Under this, there was a name: _Rab R. Rudolph, Daily Bugle reporter._

AJ looked back at the real Rab Rudolph. He was still drumming on her desk, though with only one hand now, and he had taken advantage of the moment to fill his pockets with peppermints from AJ's candy dish. AJ'd had enough! She grabbed a pencil and took a stab at Rab's hand. "Stop that!" she yelled at him.

Rab pulled his hand back just in time. He stared at AJ as if he'd never seen anything like her. "Lighten up!" he said, popping a peppermint into his mouth.

AJ sighed as she refilled her candy dish. Rab never would've made it past the front door when Mr. Osborn was in charge, but everything appeared to be in order. Try as she might, she couldn't think of any reason to hold him up.

She wheeled around in her chair and wiped his fingerprints from her desk with a tissue. Meanwhile, Rab snatched up a nearby picture. Aj knew immediately which one it was; it was the only one she kept on her desk. It was a publicity shot for the Times taken a few days before the Oscorp World Unity Festival five years ago, back when AJ had been Oscorp's hospitality chairperson. It was her proudest moment, standing arm-in-arm with Norman Osborn, flanked by board members and diplomats, but her glory didn't last long. Not even a week later, all of New York was blaming Aj's shoddy planning for the Green Goblin's attack.

AJ jerked the photo out of Rab's hands and replaced it. He gaped at her in surprise. "Hmm..." he said, turning his attention back to the picture, "He doesn't look like himself here, does he?"

AJ wheeled around. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you insinuating?" she demanded.

Rab took a step back, as if he could feel the anger radiating off of her. He tried a different approach. "I don't see any photos of the younger Mr. Osborn," he observed. "Was there a personality clash or…"

AJ glared at him. "Or what?" she prompted.

"Or is there more to _this _photo than meets the eye?" Rab probed.

BAM! AJ's fist hit the desk, and she was on her feet. She rounded on Rab. "Do you honestly think I'm about to let you defile the memories of my former bosses for a cheap profit?!" she raged, her eyes boring into him like daggers.

Rab lost his temper. He had tried to wheedle a story out of AJ nicely, but she wasn't cooperating. "Oh, come off it!" he flared back at her. "They've been talking about shutting you down since Norman Osborn died! Now it's practically inevitable! The founder and his son are dead! In case you haven't figured it out, Oscorp is going to die with them!"

AJ had to grip the back of her chair to resist the urge to tear Rab limb from limb. "Get out!" she snarled.

"Who are you trying to protect?" Rab persisted. "There's no one left! They're all dead!"

AJ grabbed a phone off her desk, poised to call a security guard. "Either get out now," she threatened, "or I'll call someone to throw you out!"

Rab nicked another handful of mints before storming past AJ. "Mark my words: Oscorp is dead!" he yelled as the door banged behind him.

AJ stared after him, shaking with anger. Of all the nerve! It was horrible enough that Rab had disrespected Mr. Osborn but to say such things about Harry! And then he expected AJ to go along with it. Surely they wouldn't shut down Oscorp! Rab had to be wrong. Oscorp couldn't be dead, could it?


End file.
